National Education Foundation Launches STEM Grant Program
In order to improve the critical STEM education in the nation’s K-12 schools, National Education Foundation (NEF), the national non-profit leader in bridging the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) divides, has launched a multimillion dollar grant program in partnership with TEKSystems and Pearson.
Any school district/school with 35% or more students on Free/Reduced cost lunch is eligible. Apply at http://www.cyberlearning.org/adoptgrant. NEF will award 100 grants in 2013-14 school year, with at least one in each state.
The first six award recipients for 2013-14 are Garvey in Rosemead, CA, Ft. Meade in Baltimore, MD. Mineral County in Hawthorne, Nevada, Canton in Canton, New York Balch Springs Middle School in Dallas, TX, and Aki Kurose in Seattle, WA, each receiving a $100,000+ grant.
NEF’s CyberLearning STEM+ academies, administered by the State University of NY (SUNY) and local universities, offer top-quality personalized courses in STEM, English, Social Studies, SAT/ACT, IT ad Business courses mapped to the Common Core Curriculum standards as well as state standards in all 50 states.
In addition to the courses, the grant provides schools funds for teacher stipends, student motivational rewards and teacher training.
The Cyberlearning total system solution enables a student to advance a grade level in 20-30 learning hours in a subject such as math or reading, as documented by SUNY.
In addition to a world-class STEM+ academy for the students, the grant provides a Parent Academy in IT and Business, and a Teacher Professional Development Academy, and a tuition-free Workforce Development Academy for the community.
This national initiative creates effective STEM partnerships among schools, universities and businesses just as President Obama exhorted in the State of the Union address in January, 2013.
NEF Chairman, Dr. Appu Kuttan states, “America is ranked 25th out of 35 countries in math and science. To compete in the global economy, our students need better STEM+ skills. Our initiative is aimed at preparing our students better for college and STEM-related jobs, while helping to improve worker productivity in our businesses.”
President Bill Clinton has commended NEF for “your ongoing commitment for creating a better and stronger America.”
This initiative is a win-win-win partnership—schools and students are the biggest winners; businesses save on annual training costs, and receive enormous CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) and PR credits; universities get an opportunity to help schools and communities.
For more information, visit http://www.cyberlearning.org, or call NEF at 703-823-9999.
About NEF
The National Education Foundation (NEF) is the national non-profit leader in bridging the academic and job skills divides by providing world-class education in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math), English, test prep, digital literacy, IT, business and management to millions of disadvantaged students and adults. See http://www.cyberlearning.org.
Author:
Scott Brown
